fiddlecollector

I kind of agree with your older generation restorer ,about dismissing buttons so readily as none original. Ive seen enough with only one collar or one pin or no pins, slight diameter mismatches with the stick etc.... that i believe are original .They (the makers) worked quickly and not every example is perfect. Wonky frogs ,heelplates, frog seatings etc,also along with heads higher on one side . Do you have a photo of your Maline??

It does look like a hairline crack in the second of your latest photos even extending into the head chamfer.. I still wouldn't do anything ,it will either break in the future or not.

looking closer ,whatever it is it doesnt look too serious ,i agree nothing needs done looking at the photo

A normal spline wouldn't really be of much help in this case . Is the crack visible all the way around. These are very common in pernambuco and are often missed when making a bow. Often only showing when the stick is heated and disappear when the wood cools down. So often not noticed at all due to it being on the head .

Looking like spiral bushings to the peg box holes. Also normal bushing in the middle photo above.

BF i think it is French Bazin.

I was thinking the same as ive had them before .Also the thick tinsel lapping is usual for Bazin

Its easy to check if the hair has stretched by removing the screw and gently holding the frog above the stick to see where the back of the eyelet is in relation to the back (button side) of the mortice .

Its very difficult to find jet black ebony with small pores any more. Even the jet black stuff still appears not quite jet black when you plane it. The surface darkens on exposure to air and looks blacker if oil or something is put on it. If you cut up an old jet black Mauritius ebony bow frog that has no visible pores ,it will often appear much less black under the surface. I'm always looking for quality bow frog material and nearly everything ive bought recently has large open pores.I could put up with small less visible pores and less blackness (the surface blackness can easily be enhanced with leather dye )

The pale colour is the sapwood,is it supposed to be for a fingerboard?

Does it have the Stentor brand on the inside back??

Makes sense as it would be a right pain carving it in whilst doing the fluting etc.. Some of the shields look right messy and amateur looking compared to the scrolls , maybe employed some one who wasnt a luthier to apply them, cant imagine the actual makers making such a mess of it.

Are these shields carved into the head or were they glued on later?? Looking around the web ,the shapes are all over the place but usually the width is contained within the chamfers going down the sides of the back of the head. The OP head looks like it extends a bit much into the chamfers. This photo borrowed off google shows 3 together .All different and one looks suspect to me.

yes lime is the correct term, just that in English it also means the fruit. Lime is mentioned a lot of here,usually to do with varnishes and its the first time ive seen anyone thinking lime the fruit!

There are often bows made of low grade very pale pernambuco or sapwood that is often stained,some of these can be quite hard to identify from photos.